High School Coaches and Recruiting Process

You are not doing your job.

Coach X wrote:

You are not doing your job.

Explain further. Pls advise.

I've always felt if the kid is good enough they'll get recruited. If they want to try and walk on its up to them to make contact.

College coaches are busy. It's easy for a kid to fly under their radar. Kids from other schools who are just as good as yours are getting attention because their coaches are advocating for them. Your kids are at a disadvantage because of your laziness.

Millenials are coddled too much. They need to be go getters and make contact to coaches at schools they want to attend for ACADEMIC REASONS.

OP - My thoughts are very similar to yours.

It's important that there is truly a good fit. I try to help athletes learn to collect the information necessary for them to make an informed decision and to provide honest appraisals of the athletes to inquiring coaches. It's not my job, or place, to sell an athlete to a program or a program to an athlete.

That being said, I do meet with the athlete and their parents to discuss what the search for a college program might look like and to eliminate some misconceptions, which are numerous. We talk about how they want me to handle contacts with college coaches. Most of the time, parents want me to give coaches their contact information rather than the athlete's. I answer questions of the athlete and parents throughout the process, but usually try to avoid making recommendations. If there's something I think they need to consider, I have suggested they ask certain questions of athletes and/or questions currently in the program.

It annoys me when parents try to direct their kids to a program. I am certainly not going to do that. This is an important time for the athlete to grow up and make an informed decision. I should not be persuading them to go one way or another.

I've spent hours on the phone with college coaches mostly after scholarship offers have been extended and accepted. Conversations usually focus on developing a mutual understanding of how the athlete's training program looks like now and what it will look like in the future. I would like to think these lead to a better transition for the athlete, but I can't say I see anecdotal support for this.

I think these conversations are probably best for developing general understanding of high school programs by the college coach and of college programs by the high school coach that make us both better in general without guaranteeing success of a particular athlete - there are just too many variables.

You're not doing anything wrong regardless of what the egomaniacs are saying here. This isn't football or basketball and you aren't any less of a coach for not trying to sell the kid to the highest bidder. What a bunch of horse lucky. At the parent meeting and in your program guide make the offer to answer questions and give some guidance to those who express interest in participating after high school. The parents, student athlete and coaches who inquire can be informed with honest responses based on your experience and/or be referred to others who can help. You already mentioned you give honest responses so don't feel guilty about not being an agent. 90% of your day is probably dedicated to a larger number of kids in the classroom. The athlete needs to identify several options that meet their academic needs with their parents then ask about continuing Athletics and you can help with that as needed. Scholarships are few and far between and so are athletes deserving of them coming out of high school. I have a coach at our school who loves to play the agent and has sold many unqualified athletes only to drop out and never compete again. Luckily, most of them stayed and got their degree which they were qualified for even without Athletics. Again unfortunately, as adults they reveal how much they disliked his controlling, egomaniac approach and if it wasn't for their friends they probably would have quit high school running as well. Some have gone into teaching and even coaching and have told me they are pretty sure how not to get overly involved or ruin the experience for what it should be. You're fine with how you are choosing to handle things.